While
we look at the five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy) as five separate books (Pentateuch), it is essentially one piece
of writing. Genesis gives the beginnings: creation, man, sin, salvation,
covenant, and Abraham’s family. Exodus sees Abraham’s family become the nation
of Israel as they travel from Egypt to Mt. Sinai. Numbers finds them at Mt.
Sinai. From Sinai they will travel to Kadesh-barnea
twice within a forty year period. They will wander in the wilderness between
them. Numbers ends where Deuteronomy begins, in the plains of Moab preparing to
conquer the land of promise. Here Moses makes his final case for obeying and
worshiping the LORD their God.

THE COVENANT

The
covenant that begins to reveal God’s specific plans in salvation starts in
Genesis 12 with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant is made by God in such a way
that all the provision are God’s responsibility to accomplish. This is called
an unconditional covenant because God assumes all the responsibilities. The
three major components of the Abrahamic covenant are land, seed, and blessing.

The
land promise is fulfilled in the Mosaic covenant. This covenant is called a
conditional covenant because it maintains “blessings and cursings”
depending on whether or not Israel keeps the conditions. This covenant will
become obsolete because man is not capable of meeting salvific conditions.

Of
course the seed promise will be fulfilled through King David by Jesus Christ
and the blessing promise will be fulfilled when the new covenant replaces the
Mosaic covenant. The new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 is an
unconditional covenant whereby, once again, God does all the saving.

THE TEN COMMANMENTS

The heart of the books of Moses
is the Ten Commandments. They reveal how man must relate to God (tablet one)
and how he should relate to other men because of how he relates to God (tablet
two). The rest of the Old Testament calls Israel to either continue or return
to following these Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy provides a commentary on the
Ten Commandments which links obedience and worship.

The Ten Commandments

Tablet 1: DIVINE

Tablet 2: HUMAN

Authority

Commandment
1

Commandment
5

Dignity

Commandment
2

Commandment
6, 7, 8

Commitment

Commandment
3

Commandment
9

Rights &
Privileges

Commandment
4

Commandment
10

Form of the Deuteronomic Covenant

Modern biblical scholarship has
established that the Sinai covenant and its renewals were formally patterned
after a particular type of human covenant, namely the suzerainty treaty of the
ancient world (an agreement between a great power and a lesser power).
Archaeological discoveries in the 20th century have brought to light a number
of such international political documents, the most interesting coming from the
ancient Hittite empire and dating from approximately the 14th century b.c. Study of those treaty
documents has revealed a fairly consistent pattern. Comparison with biblical
passages describing the Sinai covenant shows a remarkable parallel. The
structural parallel between the suzerainty treaties and the Book of Deuteronomy
is outlined in the table, “Parallels Between Hittite
Suzerainty Treaties and the Book of Deuteronomy,” which omits many minor
details of similarity.

Parallels
Between Hittite Suzerainty Treaties and the Book of
Deuteronomy

Structure
of Hittite Suzerainty
Treaties (14th Century b.c.)

Structure
of Deuteronomy,
a Hebrew “Covenant Document”

1. Preamble.
“These are the words of the Great King…”

1. Preamble
(1:1–6). “These are the words which Moses spoke…”

2. Historical
Prologue. The events leading up to the treaty.

2. Historical
Prologue (1:7–4:49). Events leading up to the making and renewing of the
covenant.

3. General
Stipulations. The loyalty due to the suzerain.

3. General
Stipulations (5–11). The loyalty due to God.

4. Specific
Stipulations. Detailed law relating to the vassal’s obedience to the
suzerain.

4. Specific
Stipulations (12–26). The detailed Hebrew casuistic law.

5. Divine
Witnesses. Called to witness the making of the treaty (“heaven and
earth”).

In
Deuteronomy the Hebrews seem to have adapted the form
of international suzerainty treaties to express their own covenant relationship
with God. Why did they choose that particular form? Perhaps the Hebrews had
been bound to their Egyptian masters by that kind of treaty, so they wanted to
dramatize their liberation by making a new treaty, this time with their God at
Sinai. Also, the Sinai covenant formed the constitution of a new but small Near
Eastern nation. Whereas other small nations commonly depended for their
existence on the generosity of a suzerain power (e.g., Egypt) Israel was to be
a free nation, owing allegiance only to God. Israel’s “treaty” with God meant
that it could acknowledge no other master. Its freedom and strength lay in its
wholehearted commitment to God alone.1

It is
common practice to refer to the 10 Commandments as Tablet 1 and Tablet 2.
Tablet 1 contains the first four commandments and reveals how God expects His people
to relate to Him. Tablet 2 contains the last six commandments and reveals how
God expects His people to relate to each other and others because of how they
relate to Him. Each tablet refers to the issues of authority, dignity,
commitment, and rights. The previous lesson reflected on God’s authority as the
sole God, Creator, Owner, and Governor of this Universe. In many ways, the
breach of any commandment offers affront to Commandment 1 for it is a failure
to fully and truly worship the One God.

Commandment
2 reflects on Divine Dignity. It is an insult to God to confuse Him with His
creation. It is a further insult to mislabel God with man-made ideas not supported
by Scripture. It is a still further insult to mislabel God by twisting ideas supported
by Scripture out of proportion in unscriptural ways. This is why all followers
of God are commissioned to have a growing understanding of the true character
and activities of the LORD God.

Commandment
3 deals with our commitment to God. The issue at hand extends beyond vocabulary.
Any actions that renders the use of God’s good name as empty or meaningless,
violates this commandment. You must remember that

1You are sons of the LORD
your God; do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head on behalf of
the dead, 2 for you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your
God. The LORD has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on
the face of the earth. (Deu 14:1-23 HCSB)

Commandment
4 claims that one day out of seven belongs to the full worship of God alone. Many
of the restrictions are direct references to the way the Canaanites (and other
nations) worshipped their gods. As the God of Israel is “one of a kind” so His
worship must be unique. All of the first four commandments link obedience with
worship. Out of love for and worship of the One, True God, His people follow
His commandments.